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Migrant dreams of Europe die frozen in Serbian snow

Louise Callaghan, Belgrade

January 15 2017, 12:01am, The Sunday Times

An Afghan refugee washes in the snow in Belgrade last week. Many migrants had hoped to head for western Europe but became trapped when the route across the western Balkans closed last yearSANTI PALACIOS

Breath rising in a plume above him, Bashir, 8, darted among the sleeping bodies on the floor of the abandoned Belgrade warehouse. In a corner lay a wet, grey blanket, edged with sleet.

“This is where I sleep,” the Afghan child said, pointing at the ground. “It’s very cold.”

The building has no windows, doors or beds. While the roof offers some protection from the heavy snow, it feels as cold inside as outside. Last week, temperatures dropped to -15C in what locals describe as the worst winter for 70 years. Fires lit by the freezing migrants fill the air with acrid black smoke, reverberating with the sound of hacking coughs.